Kula-Aid for Soil

Investors are drinking the Kula-aid. Kula Bio, a startup company focusing on developing biofertilizers to compete with synthetic options, has raised $50M in a fundraising round. How it works: The company produces Kula-N, a sustainable nitrogen fertilizer that touts maintained yields for farmers and improved soil quality. The patent-protected technology (which stems from peer-reviewed research) works by storing energy in a naturally occurring microbe that puts nitrogen from the air into the soil. What makes this product extra coola is that Kula-N energizes the microbe to store even larger amounts of nutrients in the soil. What’s your flavor: Kula-N is shown to cost less than synthetic fertilizer while yielding more, helping eliminate nitrogen runoff and lowering greenhouse gas emissions. The company says the fertilizer is "crop agnostic," non-GMO, and has been tested in several environments and soil types. Must be the money: They’ll use the funding to make more of the fertilizer product while researching other innovations. Farmers should see availability of Kula-N toward the end of 2022.